The relationship between environmental variables and the occurrence of potential hollows and hollow-bearing trees in three dry forest types (dry Eucalyptus delegatensis forest, E. pulchella - E. globulus - E. viminalis grassy/shrubby forest and dry E. obliqua forest) in south-eastern Tasmania, was examined using generalised linear modelling. The number of trees with potential hollows and the number of potential hollows was significantly higher in dry E. obliqua forest, compared with the other two forest types. The number of potential hollows per tree was best explained by tree species, tree form, degree of burn damage and the interaction between burn damage and tree species. There was no significant relationship between the number of trees with potential hollows per site and the environmental variables measured. However, the number of potential hollows per site was best explained by several environmental variables: vegetation type (highest in dry E. obliqua forest); topographic position; amount of dead trees on the ground; the age of the stand; the average total basal area of all trees; the height of the overstorey vegetation and various interactions between these variables and other variables, such as understorey cover. A model developed using a subset of the environmental variables measured was coupled with GIS data to develop a map of the predicted occurrence of trees with potential hollows throughout the study area. The use of such a predictive map for landscape level planning, in particular to assess the implications of land use scenarios on the hollow resource, is illustrated.

ABSTRACT Natural environments are now much reduced or modified, with the consequence that many species have declined and become imperilled. However, such modifications have also led to range expansion or population increases in some other native species. Consequently, in an increasing number of situations, the viability of a threatened native species is now being compromised by another native species, and conservation managers must consider options for how best to make decisions about and manage such situations. Here, I provide Australian examples of the many variations of the issue of managing to favour one native species at the expense of another native species, and note that the issue is likely to be of increasing incidence, extent, complexity and societal interest. Whereas there are reasonably well-established policy and legal foundations, and general societal support, for killing invasive (‘pest’ or ‘weed’) species to benefit native species, there is far less well-developed context and regulatory basis for the issue of killing native species to benefit other native species, and it may evoke considerable community concerns. Given the moral complexities of this issue, I use and apply the long-established ‘Just War’ theory as a pathway to develop a simple decision tree approach and a set of principles to guide decision-making when considering the need to kill a native species to achieve a conservation objective. These principles are that: (i) every effort should first be made to redress any ultimate factor responsible for the ecological imbalance; (ii) there should be compelling evidence that the ‘increaser’ species (‘Species A’) has a significant detrimental impact on the species of conservation concern (‘Species B’); (iii) there should be compelling evidence that reduction in the abundance of Species A will lead to a significant and enduring enhancement of the conservation outlook for Species B; (iv) reduction in the abundance of Species A will have no significant impact on its conservation status; (v) consequently, any program of killing Species A should be predicated on a net biodiversity benefit; (vi) options other than killing have been adequately evaluated as a mechanism to reduce the impact of Species A on Species B; (vii) any killing of Species A is done as humanely as possible; (viii) all relevant information on the situation is provided publicly with opportunity for public comment prior to decision-making; (ix) where there is insufficient information about any proposed culling, a carefully-designed trial should be applied, with results used to guide subsequent decision-making; (x) the management actions and biodiversity responses are monitored and reported publicly.

ABSTRACT Nomadic birds move around the landscape in complex, irregular patterns, making it difficult for conservation managers and planners to decide where and how to act to mitigate threatening processes. Because of this uncertainty, nomadic species are poorly represented in protected areas in Australia. We outline approaches to discover nomadic species distributions, their dynamics and their consequent vulnerability to extinction. Using citizen science initiatives like eBird Australia and the BirdLife Australia Atlas, combined with new ways of applying species distribution modelling that take into account temporal patterns of movement driven by weather and productivity, we demonstrate how to map and predict the key sites for conservation action for nomadic species. We explore recent advancements in decision–support tools to incorporate species movements into systematic conservation planning, and highlight challenges in traditional approaches for protected area designation for conserving nomads. Due to the spatio–temporal dynamism of nomadic species distributions, the projected costs of managing nomads across Australia using traditional, static, protected areas are prohibitive. Landholders, including graziers and indigenous landholders, will play a key role in safeguarding these species on pastoral lands into the future, and future conservation efforts should be focussed on these stakeholders, through a combination of community engagement, market–based incentives (such as biodiversity farming or payments for artificial water source and ephemeral wetland management), cross–boundary and cross– agency collaboration policies, and new legislative instruments. Accounting for the movements of nomadic species and incorporating new approaches to integrated land management will help design conservation solutions that are effective, cost–efficient, and robust to uncertainty in this rapidly changing world.

348 species have been recorded for the Riverina area between 1940 and 2011. 291 were recorded by me between 1964 and 1972, 95 of which were banded at the Inland Fisheries Research Station, 23 banded elsewhere in the Riverina and 173 sight records. An additional 28 species were recorded over the 1962-78 period by other workers (A.Davies, J.Izzard, J.Hobbs, P.Wilson and other joint authors) giving a total or 319 species in the Riverina over that period. The more recent lists of the Bird Atlas I and 2 1988-2001 and the Bird Trails document up to 2011, which cover a large proportion of the areas covered in this study, add 29 species to the overall list making a total of 348 species.

Bird counts were conducted in woodland remnants of the upper North-west Slopes of New South Wales, an ornithologically little-documented area, in 1995 and 1997. A total of 120 woodland species, including 11 threatened species, was recorded in the area below 900 m elevation, from a point 100 km NNW of Armidale northwards 50 km to the Dumaresq River, thence 50 km north-west across Slopes woodland to the river at Texas (Queensland). Woodland patches ≯300 ha supported significantly more species than those <100 ha. Threatened and other declining species occurred mainly in large patches, although some also occurred commonly in small riverine or otherwise fertile patches; foraging guilds of small to medium-sized, ground and above-ground insectivores were under-represented in small remnants. The conservation values of woodland remnants on the upper North-west Slopes are similar to those on the tablelands and inland slopes farther south, and require appropriate management to maintain avian diversity.

Nest predation is the most common source of nest failure in most passerines, yet the identity of the predators is generally poorly known. Recent advances in surveillance cameras have made the identification of nest predators much easier. We used this technology to investigate the nest predators of a woodland bird community in south-east Australia, for which nest predation averaged 59% per annum over four years. Despite the loss of more than 240 clutches or broods during this period, only one predation event was witnessed prior to the use of cameras, and the identity of predators remained virtually unknown. During the 2012/13 breeding season, cameras recorded 17 acts of nest predation involving seven species of nesting birds, and we identified seven species of predator (four birds and three mammals). For two of the avian predators, we recorded hitherto unknown behaviour.

An overview of changes to the distribution and numbers of New South Wales birds was considered in relation to the IBRA bioregions, using data from Birds Australia's first and second national bird atlases ( Atlas 1 , 1977 - 1981 and Atlas 2 , 1998 - 2001). Reporting rates, adjusted for survey effort, were compared for 347 bird species. Of these, 184 species (53%) showed no change between the two atlases, 83 (24%) were recorded more frequently during Atlas 2 , and 80 (23%) were recorded less frequently during Atlas 2 . This represents a greater proportion of declining bird species in NSW compared with the whole of Australia - one previous study found that 15% of 422 species had declined nationally. Of 139 woodland species tested, 33 (24%) were recorded less frequently during Atlas 2 , a similar proportion to the broader pattern for all NSW bird species (23%). Woodland birds represented 41% of the declining bird species in NSW, 43% of the increasing species and 38% of species showing no change between the two atlases. Based on IUCN criteria, the current study indicates that 56 bird species may qualify as threatened in NSW. A brief case study is presented for one such species, the Gang-gang Cockatoo, which has subsequently been listed as threatened. Our study also identifies possible drivers of regional patterns by modelling changes in reporting rate for individual woodland bird species against a selection of bioregional features from the National Land and Water Resources Audit, Landscape Health in Australia database. Bioregions with greater rainfall had increased reporting rates and greater woodland bird diversity in Atlas 2 compared with Atlas 1 . Reporting rates for individual woodland bird species responded both positively and negatively to the % native vegetation cover and the % area grazed by livestock within bioregions.

Ellis et al . (2007) classified the fauna of south western New South Wales into a management related structure of specialised and generalist species assemblages. The broad description of this system was presented in the paper but the detailed assignment of species to the various groups and the relationships between the groups was not published when supplementary material was not produced with the book. To prevent the loss of this information, which is important for applying the results of this study to other situations, the assignment of species to broad management groups and assemblages is now published as Table 1 (below). The relationship between specialist assemblages, which would be actively conserved through appropriate vegetation and/or water management, and their relation to vegetation types was presented in the original publication. The relationship between vegetation types and generalist assemblages, which would accrue benefits from actions for specialist assemblages in the same vegetation type, is given in Table 2 (below). Habitat mapping through broad vegetation types was thought not to adequately reflect the requirements of shorebirds and no analysis of their distribution was attempted.

Loss and fragmentation of the native vegetation of the Central Western Plains of New South Wales was followed by declines of woodland-dependent species. Drought is likely to have further suppressed many animal populations. Here we report on changes in woodland bird reporting rates between surveys in 2005-2009 (drought declared period) and surveys in 2010-2013 following the drought-breaking rains of 2010. By 2013 the number of species detected per survey had just recovered to the level of surveys in 2005/6. The 2013 species composition of the region was similar to that recorded in the 2005-2009 drought surveys, with half of the small insectivorous and nectarivorous woodland birds remaining rare and restricted. Woodland remnants in the landscape continued to be dominated by the same, usually large, species of birds, but reporting rates of 13 of the 15 most common species declined. Conversely, several smaller, foliage gleaning passerines had higher reporting rates post-drought, with Striated Pardalote and Western Gerygone becoming two of the most frequently recorded species. Taxonomic and life history attributes usually did not predict population changes for species post-drought, with the only feeding guild showing a consistent trend being the mistletoe specialists, with only two species. Even after the drought-breaking rains of 2010, there appears to be a reduced vigour in these woodland landscapes.

The Menindee Lakes system in the Darling Riverine Plains bioregion in western New South Wales supports a diverse terrestrial vertebrate fauna. A survey of this fauna in spring 2000 and summer 2001 for the New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation revealed 12 mammal families (representing 25 species), 60 families of birds (164 species), eight reptile families (39 species), and two families of frogs (at least 7 species). Several new vertebrate species for the area were recorded, including the Stripe-faced Dunnart Sminthopsis macroura , Regent Parrot Polytelis anthopeplus and Woodland Blind Snake Ramphotyphlops proximus . Including historical records, the Menindee Lakes supports at least 305 terrestrial vertebrate species, including 18 species that are considered officially threatened in an international, national, or state context. At least another 18 terrestrial species are considered threatened regionally. Eight bird species are also protected under international agreements (JAMBA and CAMBA). The amount of woodlands in the region is relatively small, typically restricted to floodplains and the periphery of lakes, and usually dominated by either Black Box Eucalyptus largiflorens or River Red Gum E. camaldulensis . These woodlands, particularly the Black Box-dominated communities, were found to support relatively high numbers of terrestrial species because the Lower Darling River, its lakes and floodplains, provide resource-rich habitats in an otherwise resource-poor landscape.

ABSTRACT Aubrey Elliott (1910–1943), a passionate ‘bird-man’, lived in the suburb of Tapitallee on the south coast of New South Wales until 1940. During that period he and his brother, Arthur kept notes on the birds in the local area and devised a hide that was mounted on a utility that enabled them to take close-up photographs. To augment his observations Elliott interviewed local residents and collated information on the status of the area’s birds. In 1985 I purchased the property next to where Elliott lived and was given access to his notes. This paper presents a comparison of avifauna in the Tapitallee area between 1926–40 and 1985–2020. During that time there have been changes in the distribution and abundance of many birds. Fourteen species have become locally extinct while 28 have colonised/recolonised the area. Combining Aubrey’s and our data a total of 194 species of bird have been recorded in the area. Dams have been constructed and native vegetation has regrown on the steeper slopes. These actions have expanded the habitat for aquatic and forest dependant species but disadvantaged those that occupy grasslands. The Red Fox Vulpes vulpes colonised the area in 1907 and is implicated in the local extinction of the Bush Stone Curlew Burhinus grallarius. Wildfire in January 2020 burnt a relatively small portion of the Tapitallee area but these fires burnt an extensive area of southern NSW and Victoria. These fires were likely to be responsible for the decline in the numbers of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters Caligavis chrysops and White-naped Honeyeater Melithreptus lunatus migrating north in the autumn of that year.

The Central West and Lachlan Catchments lie west of the Great Dividing Range in central NSW and have been subjected to extensive land clearing, grazing and agricultural pressures beginning in the 1820s. Many vertebrate species are known to have disappeared from these catchments but reliable data for species diversity, distribution, abundance and conservation status are not available. For this assessment of the diversity and status of the vertebrate fauna in these catchment areas a comprehensive database of vertebrate records was established, species distributions mapped, faunal communities determined by pattern analysis and conservation status determined at a regional level. The extent of post-European human-induced landscape change was evaluated by assessing the degree of habitat loss, loss of landscape function and resilience through changes to the water cycle, soil and energy flow and the impact of invasive species, diseases and agricultural pollution. Of the 595 vertebrate species verified for these catchments, 6% are introduced, 12% have been listed in NSW under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 , 4% by the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 , 40% are regionally vulnerable, 20% regionally endangered and 2% likely to have become extinct in the region. Overall we estimate that 64% (382) of species are declining. These statistics present a grim picture of the survival of vertebrates in these catchments and potentially for the sheep-wheat belt of eastern Australia. The extreme loss of habitat and its poor condition across much of these catchments followed by serious changes to the functioning of the landscape provide clear reasons for the catastrophic decline of vertebrates in this landscape. If this serious decline in the Central West and Lachlan catchments is to be halted, strategies aimed at habitat and landscape restoration must be developed. Current strategies based on Threatened Species management plans and ad hoc planting for revegetation have not produced results. We need a radical rethink.

The woodlands of southern Australia have been extensively cleared for agriculture. The loss and fragmentation of the native vegetation has been followed by dramatic declines in woodland-dependant species. Here we present data from the Central Western Plains of New South Wales on the occurrence of birds in woodlands that have been highly fragmented and structurally altered over the last 150 years. The species composition of the region is still very similar to that recorded 3 decades earlier but many small insectivorous and nectivorous woodland birds are rare and restricted, while the woodland patches and remnant tree groves in the landscape are now dominated by the Galah, Noisy Miner, Australian Magpie, Crested Pigeon, Apostlebird, Magpie-lark, Grey-crowned Babbler, Australian Raven, Eastern Rosella and Pied Butcherbird.

A consequence of the European colonization of Australia has been a significant ioss of biodiversity: one in four mammal species is either extinct or threatened. In contrast, only one species of bird has been lost from the Australian continent and there is less concern for the survival of the Australian avifauna than for mammals. This is despite the fact that nearly one in five bird species is listed as threatened or of “special concern”. Moreover, a review of the status of Australian birds at local, regional, state and continental scales shows that the impact of Europeans on the avifauna is much greater than acknowledged. Over most of southern Australia entire avifaunas are threatened with extinction. When allowance is made for habitat loss and degradation, 30 to 90% of bird species across the continent have declined in abundance. The extent of this decline is that the survival of many bird species in the 21st Century is threatened. While a majority of birds in southern Australia has declined in abundance and/or distribution, others have increased. Parallel changes are proceeding in northern Australia. In terms of evaluating impact on the avifauna, an increase in numbers and a change in the composition of avian communities are as significant as the loss of populations and species. Both adversely affect patterns of continental biodiversity and are ecologically dysfunctional. Assuming that current trends continue, over the next century, significant components of the avifauna will be lost as populations proceed to extinction and the composition of avifaunas change at scales ranging from the local to the continental. The pattern of change in avian abundances, and the failure to anticipate or acknowledge the major losses of birds on the Australian continent, shows that conservation emphasis needs to shift from a species by species approach to the conservation of communities and entire avifaunas. Taken together. the scale of the changes in the distribution and abundance of Australian birds is an affirmation that present and projected patterns of human use of the Australian continent are not sustainable. Much needs to be done to reverse the decline of the terrestrial avifauna and achieve ecological sustainability in land use. The most urgent actions are to end the clearing of native vegetation, reduce gazing pressure, remove inappropriate fire regimes, control feral and native animals whose-abundance threatens native species and restore functional ecosyslems, with an emphasis on native vegetation, to a minimum of 30% of the landscape. These need to be accompanied by an aggressive programme to improve water quality in fresh water habitats and restore environmental eater flows, and the creation of a comprehensive. adequate and representative reserve system across the continent irrespective of land tenure. In the absence of such action. I predict that Australia will lose half of its terrestrial bird species in the next century.

Eighty-two species of vertebrates were recorded from an area of cypress pine and ironbark forest within Goonoo State Forest, located 42 Idiometres north-east of Dubbo. New South Wales. Grass-seed-eating birds were uncommon due to the lack of gasses within the forest. Small birds such as fairy-wrens, thornbills and warblers were only found where patches of dense shrub were found, usually where the canopy has been disturbed. Flowering ironbarks were found to attract a variety of bird species utilizing both the pollen and nectar as well as the insects that were attracted. Four threatened species (Glossy Black Cockatoo, Koala. Yellow-bellied Sheathtall Bat. Little Pied Bat) were recorded as well as a new range extension for the Eastern Pygmy Possum. Retention of ironbarks over 47.0 cm diameter at breast height is needed to preserve the presence of large tree hollows as well as eucalypt blossom sources within the forest.

When disasters occur, media reporting tends to focus on the impacts on humans and their property, with only occasional references made to impacts on natural assets such as wildlife. We looked at a range of print and internet media sources to examine the way the media treat wildlife in their reporting of disasters. We found a growing media interest in wildlife problems from earlier analyses, at least partly generated by growing awareness of the risks to wildlife posed by global warming, a hot media topic. Scientists were rarely directly reported, but when they were the message came through loud and clear, calling for better bases for government actions to conserve wildlife. The media industry is separate to academic science and the policy and management world of governments, but has a responsibility to carry important information from these bodies to the wider community. For their part, wildlife scientists should make more effort to set priorities and to inform reporting, recognising that the media influence the political agenda. If global warming is making Australia more disaster-prone ( New York Times 30 September 2009), the consequences for wildlife need to be understood and widely communicated, as a precondition for protective actions.

Information on forest use and dependence on tree hollows was collated for vertebrates in the Top End of the Northern Territory. The proportion of the total fauna that used hollows was 40% for mammals, 18% for birds, 20% for reptiles and 13% for frogs. Mammals had the highest proportion of species that: used forest; were forest dependent; used tree hollows; and the greatest proportion of forest species that used hollows frequently. Birds had the highest proportion of species that did not use forest but, because of their high numbers of species, they had the highest number of species using hollows. Only the reptiles had a consistently higher proportion of hollow-using species in the Top End when compared with national figures and two southern regional areas (Tasmania and southwest Western Australia) where forest was abundant. A greater proportion of threatened species are forest dependent compared with non-threatened species but the proportion of threatened and nonthreatened species that use hollows did not differ. Increased fire intensity in areas with exotic, high biomass pasture grasses and extraction of forest products, particularly didgeridoos, may be impacting on hollow availability at a local level.

ABSTRACT Technologies for remotely observing animal movements have advanced rapidly in the past decade. In recent years, Australia has invested in an Integrated Marine Ocean Tracking (IMOS) system, a land ecosystem observatory (TERN), and an Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O), but has not established movement tracking systems for individual terrestrial animals across land and along coastlines. Here, we make the case that the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, an open-source, rapidly expanding cooperative automated radio-tracking global network (Motus, https://motus.org ) provides an unprecedented opportunity to build an affordable and proven infrastructure that will boost wildlife biology research and connect Australian researchers domestically and with international wildlife research. We briefly describe the system conceptually and technologically, then present the unique strengths of Motus, how Motus can complement and expand existing and emerging animal tracking systems, and how the Motus framework provides a much-needed central repository and impetus for archiving and sharing animal telemetry data. We propose ways to overcome the unique challenges posed by Australia’s ecological attributes and the size of its scientific community. Open source, inherently cooperative and flexible, Motus provides a unique opportunity to leverage individual research effort into a larger collaborative achievement, thereby expanding the scale and scope of individual projects, while maximising the outcomes of scant research and conservation funding.